Hope When The Hits Keep Coming

   I like boring. I know, I might be weird in thinking like that, but it’s true. Boring means no drama. Boring means stability and safety, which is something that hasn’t been a constant in most of my life, so when I can look around and deem my life, “boring,” it’s a good thing. A happy, safe, pleasant thing. A rare thing. More often than not, something is going on, something’s brewing. I recently heard a faith teacher say if we’re not currently in a valley (time of struggle), it’s probably because we’ve recently left one or will be in one soon. So, I cherish the boring, because all too often a good old gully washer slams me into another valley, and I have to start the trek of clawing my way back out. Sometimes it feels like I just can’t get out of the valley. Sometimes it feels like just as I pass through the storm, sit in the mire and learn what that deluge needed to teach me, then begin to crawl up the sides of that greasy, slippery pit, another blast of water washes me down to the bottom again. Anything but boring. My default mindset is to control the controllables in my life. If I do all the right things, I hedge my bets in the right direction, making it less likely bad things will happen. I know. That’s not reality. It’s just my brain, and I know my fellow PTSD survivors (as well as many others) can deeply relate. 

   As I was reading through Genesis in my quiet time this year, the story of Joseph struck me in a whole new way. Joseph was born into a pretty dysfunctional family. Dad has four wives, two of them are sisters who hate each other and battle out their jealousy over “alone time” with his dad and how many babies they can produce through themselves and their slaves. Sheesh. The toxicity clearly affected the kids because Joseph’s ten older brothers hated him with a vengeance. SO much so that when he was 17 they tried to kill him. Whoops- murder didn’t pan out so instead they sold him into slavery and split the money. So he was a kid born into a toxic home, did his best, and was rewarded by being trafficked into slavery. 

   Despite being a victim of human trafficking, Joseph continued to work hard, be a man of good character, and truly follow after God. He had proven himself to his master, Potiphar, that he was a good, diligent, trustworthy man, and was rewarded with great power and responsibility in the home of this great military captain. Then came the next gully washer- Potiphar’s wife. She saw Joseph was a good man, strong and handsome. She wanted her way with him. She brow beat him. The Bible says every day she was hounding him relentlessly. Do it, Joseph. Do it. Do it. DO it. DO it. Come on, Joseph. Every day he resisted. Every day he said, “No. I am a man of God, trusted by my employer. I will not betray his trust nor sin against God.” Despite his morals, diligence, and consistency in resisting the haranguing of the enemy, evil won. Potiphar’s wife grabbed him and tried to force herself on him. Joseph was literally sexually assaulted, but he beat off his assailant and escaped.  Not only was there was no justice to be had, but his assailant was also insulted at the strong rebuff, and she called the guards and claimed SHE was the one assaulted. Joseph was rewarded for his strength, diligence, faith, and morals in the face of temptation by being thrown in prison for a crime he didn’t commit- for a crime of which HE was the victim.

   The injustice of it could make your blood boil. There was no #metoo for Joseph. Just prison. But Joseph didn’t let it bring him down. He continued to be a man of God. EVEN IN PRISON, Joseph worked hard and showed himself to be trustworthy and a man of good character, to the point that he was put in charge of the other prisoners. A little credit where credit was due? Maybe, but he was still in prison. The Bible doesn’t say how long he was in prison, just, “quite some time,” before he met a couple of Pharaoh’s servants who were also inmates. He helped them out and they swore when they were released from prison three days later that they would tell Pharaoh about what a great guy he was. Guess what? They forgot. Well, to be fair, one was immediately executed but the OTHER ONE forgot. For two more years Joseph was enslaved in prison while someone else had the power to speak up and help him but did nothing. One word: unfair. He did nothing wrong but was in prison anyway, and the one person who could help him didn’t. 

   Genesis 40:14-15: 

      Remember me when it is well with you, and please do the kindness of mentioning me to Pharaoh and so get me out of this prison, because I was indeed kidnapped and sold from my homeland when I was young, and here also I have done nothing to deserve being imprisoned in this pit.

But he didn’t. For two more years Joseph stayed in prison when he didn’t need to if someone else had just kept his word. Despite all this injustice by humans, God didn’t forget him. Eventually, something jogged that guy’s memory and he told Pharaoh about Joseph. Pharaoh immediately brought Joseph up out of prison, had him cleaned up and brought to him, and within an hour Joseph was put second in command over the whole kingdom. This man, who was born into dysfunction and toxicity, was a victim of human trafficking, enslaved, sexually assaulted, and wrongfully imprisoned, still stayed faithful to God. Humans were the ones repeatedly wronging him, not God. So often in life we’re dealt unfair blows over and over and over, and it can be so easy to doubt God. I’m sure even Joseph had his moments where he felt utterly abandoned by all that was good and holy. Through it all, though, he persisted. He knew deep down that God' was good, humans were evil, and the right thing was worth doing even when it was unbelievably hard and life was unfathomably unfair. We may never live to see that epic underdog ending, but even in all the hard things we face- even the ones that are just incomprehensibly undeserved- we can cling to the irrefutable facts: Humans are flawed and have free will to do as they please. If God controlled the humans, we’d be slaves, not beloved children whom He died for, and begs to have a relationship with. God is good. He is so, so good, and His ways are worth living every single day, whether we’re seemingly vastly blessed and second in command over our earthly kingdom, or abused, assaulted, forgotten, and imprisoned. We can always trust His goodness and faithfulness when we choose to continue to follow His path, even when the hits keep coming.

How have you seen glimpses of God’s goodness and faithfulness during a struggle in your life?